THE RETURN OF THE SOIL : Multi-proxy Soil Chemical Analysis of a Bronze Age Settlement at Mårtenfäboda, Norrland

Sammanfattning

oastal Bronze Age settlement sites in Norrland (Norrlandic Sweden) remainunderstudied relative to inland settlements, and the site of Mårtenfäboda (coastalsettlement, L1938:6812) has not been re-evaluated since Forsberg’s analysis in 1999.This thesis re-examines legacy soil samples from the 1994 excavation through multiproxysoil chemical analysis, together with re-calibrated 14C dates. With the aim ofestablishing an empirical basis for feature function at the site, against whichinterpretations of settlement character can be better evaluated. Twenty-six soil samples from excavated features were analysed using portable XRF(pXRF), Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR), Loss on Ignition (LOI), MagneticSusceptibility (MS), and citric acid phosphate extraction (CitP and CitPOI). Zirconiumnormalisation was applied to pXRF data to substitute the absence of backgroundreference samples. Multivariate analysis was explored through Principal ComponentAnalysis (PCA), and existing radiocarbon dates were re-calibrated using IntCal20 (2sigma). Feature 6 produced the strongest anthropogenic signal in the dataset, consistentwith sustained burning, organic waste accumulation, and possible manure deposition.Interpreted as a hearth/ hearth-pit subjected to prolonged use. Features 8 and 9 showelemental signatures more consistent with ash infill rather than in-situ burning, givinggeochemical support to Forsberg’s posthole interpretation. The heap of Fire-crackedstones recorded NIR absorption indicative of animal lipid deposition in the absence ofvisible bone. The cooking pit returned moderate signatures consistent with ashaccumulation and low-intensity heating. Recalibrated dates place the most intensiveactivity in the Late Bronze Age to Pre-Roman Iron Age (913 – 418 cal BC). The results demonstrate that multi-proxy soil analysis can generate interpretablefeature-level differentiation from legacy material, even under conditions of incompletedocumentation and absent background samples. Mårtenfäboda shows evidence ofsustained activity, though the data cannot confirm whether the site represents apermanent Bronze Age house, or a site of marine processing.